This article has been brought to you by Slough Borough Council's Early Years Advisory Teacher, Karen Loft, for the attention of All Schools.
Teacher Bulletin
Being surrounded by teachers and friends in school helps to keep children safe and supports them to reach their potential. We’re committed to tackling the factors causing children to miss school, in particular issues surrounding mild illness, anxiety and term-time holidays.
This bulletin brings together the latest advice on how to support pupils and improve attendance with a range of tips, resources and materials you might find useful.
This article discusses:
- Speaking to parents about attendance
- Mild illness guidance
- GPs and attendance
- Mild anxiety guidance
- Ofsted and attendance
- Improving attendance for persistent absentees even in year 11 makes a difference to results
- Pupils missing school to engage in protests
Read the full article here: Teacher Bulletin: improving pupil attendance (govdelivery.com)
Reading and helpful resources:
- Working together to improve school attendance guidance: This detailed document sets out helpful guidance about the actions that schools, trusts and local authorities can take to maintain high levels of school attendance, including roles and responsibilities.
- Good practice webinars: School leaders from a range of contexts, including AP and special schools, are taking part in an ongoing series of webinars focusing on effective practice for improving and maintaining excellent school attendance.
- Teaching blog - working together to tackle attendance in rural communities: Schools have been sharing daily attendance data with DfE and making use of the Monitor Your School Attendance (MYSA) service - a free, secure tool that helps them visualise the data and monitor, manage and improve pupil attendance. Read how two schools in rural communities are using the data tool to view their attendance data and support their absent pupils.
- Monitor your school attendance data: If your school is sharing daily attendance data with the Department for Education, they can get access to the free Monitor Your School Attendance tool. There are many benefits, such as:
- Track pupil attendance
- Identify pupils needing support
- Save time building attendance reports
- Get trend insights for different pupil cohorts
- Compare your school’s attendance within your local authority